Here we have a simple conversation about European culture.
You may down the file and the narrated audio here and here.
THE ISLE OF SARK
Are
you tired of frantic paceof modern life? If
the answer is yes, then you should visit the Isle Sark and take a step back to
a time when cars didn’t fill our streets. Sark, the smallest of the Channel
Islands, is the last independent feudal state in Europe.
Heaven
on Earth
The
island is a paradise for nature lovers, ramblers2
and above all, birdwatchers3. There
really are no cars here: visitors can travel around the island on horse-drawn
carriages4, on foot, or hire5 bicycles. The island offers miles of wonderful
coastline6 with sandy7, almost deserted beaches. There are many
inlets8 and bays where you can spot
puffins9, dolphins and rare anemones.
Sark has attracted tourists since the 18th century, and now many of
its inhabitants depend on tourism, though there are traditional cottage
industries10 such as knitting,
pottery and glass-blowing11.
Elizabethan
Times
The time of government in Sark had hardly
changed since 1556, when Elizabeth I leased the land to the Governor of Jersey,
Helier de Carteret. The island, the properly of the English monarchy, was once
the site of a monastery, but in the 14th century became uninhabited
because of the Black Death12.
Sark became a refuge for pirates and
the French threatened to claim it13.
So Queen Elizabeth appointed Carteret the island’s feudal governor, or
Seigneur, on condition he brought 40 families to colonise and defend the land. Through
2008 the island was still governed by a Seigneur, Mr. Michael Beaumont. Since
then charges in the island’s constitution have resulted in the transition to an
elected government.